foregoneconclusion

radarthekat said: Meanwhile, in more advanced economies those offshored jobs are replaced with better, higher-paying jobs in STEM, engaged in R&D, engineering, product management, creative design, and entrepreneurial pursuits that create whole new industries.

One of the easiest and most obvious ways to improve the economy and give a lot of people jobs is to update/improve infrastructure throughout the United States. It's the proverbial low hanging fruit due to the fact that the United States has largely neglected infrastructure due to its obsession with enormous tax cuts and ridiculously expensive wars.

But the GOP doesn't like that idea because it would show the general population that democratic governance works for them. They like the "factories" concept because it's entirely oriented around private business. 

Afarstar said:

Big congrats to Tim Cook for his quiet and thorough diplomacy. All the Cook naysayers should hang their heads in shame. 

Cook wasn't practicing diplomacy. He was paying a bribe. 

This is additional proof that Trump's claim of an "economic emergency" that gives him the power to levy tariffs through the IEEPA has no basis in reality. Add to that the fact that the IEEPA was intended by Congress to give the executive branch the power to do sanctions on foreign governments (freeze assets/seize property) and not to control domestic economics through tariffs and the whole things is a complete farce. 

For anyone interested in facts about the current U.S. debt level, here are the primary drivers of that debt...

A. The George W. Bush administration ending the Bill Clinton tax surplus that was being used to pay down the debt.
B. The George W. Bush administration tax cuts.
C. The George W. Bush administration invasion and occupation of Afghanistan.
D. The George W. Bush administration invasion and occupation of Iraq.
E. Loss of tax revenue caused by the Great Recession
F. The Donald Trump administration tax cuts.
G. Loss of tax revenue caused by the Global Pandemic.
H. The DOGE cuts to the IRS.

The GOP plans additional multi-trillions in tax cuts on top of that in the near future. 

DAalseth said:

mike_galloway said:

When china hold a huge proportion of US debt it's a stupid man that provokes the dragon especially when the US need mountains of new debt continually. 

The bond markets are the real king here and will determine the outcome of this farce.

I’ve thought for at least 20 years that all China has to do is call in even a good fraction of the US debt they own and it would be all over for the US. 

China currently hold about $700-$800 billion in U.S. debt. The GOP did a $2 trillion tax cut in 2017 that was not offset. And they want to make that cut permanent while adding another $2-4 trillion in cuts on top of it that won't be offset either. So China dumping all of their bonds is a drop in the bucket for debt relative to GOP tax cuts.